29 November 2008

I remember a childhood story. Two love birds built a beautiful nest for their family with so much of effort. One day, after long search for food, they came back late to their nest. They were shocked to see another bird occupying their nest. The love birds told him, "It is our nest and we built with so much of effort". He replied them, "I found it and it is mine now". The love birds fought with him for days. Later they realized that they were wasting their time and energy, and it was not worth fighting anymore. They moved on to a different location and started their family.

Our history has been tainted with so much of bad events. People made mistakes and have been making them. I am sure that no country or society is perfect. But is it worth fighting for some past events? How much is worth for you and your children? Can you make some reasonable compromises for the sake of peace, your own peace, your children's peace? After all, the innocent people you are killing not your real enemies. Remember, destruction is so easy; do not think that you have achieved something. If you really want to show something great, then create something... make your society, your country a better place where freedom and knowledge blossom, men and women equal, no poverty and everybody is happy... show this to the world and to your enemy.

Oh, I forget it... you may not understand any of this logic, as you just follow some blind faith without any reasoning. There is a bad attitude in our society that it is OK to believe in something without any reasoning. It creates a platform, a foundation, a hideout for those go to extremes.

In this global village, everybody is dependent on each other like never before. If some group or segment or country falls behind, it is everybody's duty to bring them up; else it would affect every one of us. We have so much knowledge and power to create; at the same time, weapons to destroy entire earth in seconds. Together we can rise up, else we will fall together!

06 November 2008

Man sees this world...plants, animals, the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, stars. He sees certain design in them...certain creation in them...certain order in them. He asks a question, who created it? He refers this unknown creator of orders as God. [Orders = God]

Man sees a fellow man gets sick and die. He doesn't know why or who does it. He also doesn't understand many things that happen around him. He could not find any reason, logic, or order. Though it looks random without any reason or logic or order, he concludes that it must be somebody doing it for some reason. He refers this unknown creator of disorders as God. [Disorders = God]

In general, whether the order that amazes him or disorder that confuses him, he refers unknown as God.[Unknown = God]

Later on, he discovers some reason behind some of the unknowns. He finds some logic and reason for some disorders and recognizes the order in it. He concludes all disorders must have some orders behind it. Now he looks for an order behind each and every disorder. He finds more and more orders behind many disorders. But he stumbles at certain inherent disorder (randomness). He tries harder and harder to find an order behind this inherent disorder.

Now he slowly sees a possible big picture. He finds a law of nature that concludes, a pure disorder (equilibrium) is the ultimate destiny of the universe. He recognizes how some orders (including galaxies, stars, planets, life, mind, etc.) can be created out of disorders temporarily; but ultimately leading towards its final destiny, a pure disorder. And hence he lives with some orders (predictable-s) and some disorders (unpredictable-s). Even if it is correct, he does not understand why nature follows this law. He continues his search!

In any case, he recognizes certain deep mystery in the universe when he looks for its ultimate origin, and wonders whether he could understand it fully. As usual, many jump to conclude this unknown as God. But few recognize that God is much bigger unknown than the unknown it tries to explain!

At the end, after all [God = unknown]. Does God exist? Yes, because unknown still exists! But God is not what you think it is, because it is unknown!

02 November 2008

Year 2009 is Charles Darwin's 200th birthday (12 February) and 150th anniversary (24 November) of the publication of his famous book, On the Origin of Species. I write this as my celebration and simple tribute to his life!

28 October 2008

Now democracy is considered as a best form of government. More than 2000 years back (~ 400 BC), when Athens tried democratic governing, Socrates had a different view and one of reasons for which he was sentenced to death. He viewed that it is not majority opinion that yields correct policy but rather genuine knowledge and professional competence, which is possessed by only a few. Imagine having a democratic vote on equal rights for minority people during civil war period. Fortunately those rights are given by our constitution, established by few great minds, our founding fathers. There is a long history and debate behind every governing principle. No principle is perfect for all conditions. Often we forget them and take things for granted.

Socialism was introduced with a dream to create heaven on earth - to create equal society; to get rid of unfair concentration of power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and creates an unequal society. But in practice, it is more likely to be controlled by a state and historically a totalitarian government. Socialism also shows inefficient governing and might create less innovation and development. Economist Adam Smith demonstrated that, in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to also promote the good of his community as a whole. It is the fundamental principle behind capitalism, a self-organizing, decentralized system. Capitalism is attributed to the rapid economic growth of 19th and 20th centuries. But it also has some inherent flaws – monopoly, business cycles, unequally distributed wealth, etc; and hence we have many regulations and controls.

In this global village, everything and everybody is dependent on each other like never before. Building a heaven on earth may not be practical, but we should eradicate poverty at minimum. Certain basic needs and conditions are very important for a stable and growing society. We can not afford to sit idle to AIDS crisis in Africa, or bird-flue virus that might possibly originates from any country. Healthcare and education should be available to every children at minimum, and affordable to every citizen. These are all not individual's problems. The failure to meet those basic requirements would affect each and every one of us.

We need capitalism with good regulations along with certain minimum socialism that ensures basic needs. We do not have to associate socialism with communism and then with totalitarianism, and create hate and fear. Today, every country on earth follows the principles of both capitalism and socialism. Our debates should not be about whether we need socialism, but about how much, what kind and purpose.